Multi-zone simulation of outdoor particle penetration and transport in a multi-story building

Byung Hee Lee, Su Whan Yee, Dong Hwa Kang, Myoung Souk Yeo, Kwang Woo Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

In areas with poor ambient air quality, indoor particle concentrations can be significantly affected by particulate matter originating outdoors. The indoor environments of multi-zone and multi-story buildings are affected differently by outdoor particles compared with single-family houses, because of the buildings’ more complicated airflow characteristics. The objective of this study is to analyze outdoor particle penetration and transport, and their impact on indoor air, in a multi-zone and multi-story building using a CONTAMW simulation. For the airflow and particle transport analysis, the building leakage, penetration coefficients, and deposition rates were determined by on-site experiments. The results of airflow simulations for cold winters show that outdoor air infiltrates through the lower part of building and exfiltrates from the upper part. The results of the particle simulation also indicated that the airflow characteristics, combined with deposition rates, cause the lower floors of a multi-story building to be exposed to higher fine particle concentrations compared with the upper floors of the building. The study demonstrated that the CONTAMW simulation can be useful in analyzing the impact of outdoor particles on indoor environments through the identification of key particle transport parameters and validated airflow simulations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)525-534
Number of pages10
JournalBuilding Simulation
Volume10
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2017

Keywords

  • deposition
  • multi-story building
  • multi-zone simulation
  • outdoor particles
  • particle transport
  • penetration

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